Indonesian Culinary - Penyetan
What is penyetan? Penyetan originates from the word lumat or in English is pulverized. Penyetan is a kind of food that consists of rice, fried or roasted chicken, fried or roasted fish, egg, tempe, and tofu. It also consists of lalapan and sambal such as sambal terasi, sambal bawang, sambal goreng, sambal pecel, etc.
Why its name is penyetan? This food is called penyetan because the method to make it is by press the chicken or others until they are flat. Some sellers moreover press them until they are almost crushed. They press them with pestle.
Where is penyetan usually sold? Penyetan is usually sold in the food stall on the sidewalk. But now, penyetan is more famous and you can see it in the some restaurants in Yogyakarta.
When does the food stall of penyetan open? On the sidewalk, penyetan usually opens in the evening at for about 4 pm.
Who is customer of penyetan? The customer comes from various classes like workers, employees, children, and also university students.
Why do they choose this food? They choose this food because the cost is cheap but it tastes good. Penyetan has already become the eminent menu most of university students.
How much they must pay for it? On the sidewalk, they only pay under ten thousand rupiah. But on the restaurant is above ten thousand rupiah, moreover on the famous restaurant is above twenty thousand rupiah.
The sellers of food stall especially penyetan are dominated by the sellers from West Java especially Lamongan. It indicates that penyetan originates from Surabaya. But, penyetan is very famous in Yogyakarta. They bring their recipe to other cities included Yogyakarta and build their food stall. If Gudheg has the sweet taste, penyetan has the spicy taste. Usually the sellers will ask the customers type of sambal that they want. Then, the chicken or others will be pressed with that sambal. You can imagine how does it taste.
On the sidewalk, most of sellers don't prepare the chairs for customers. They only prepare the tables to put the foods. So, the customers must sit on the plaited mat to eat. The people in Java call it lesehan.
The penyetan stall is made by iron framework that seems like tent. It makes the stall is also called Warung Tenda or in English is Tent Stall. Then, the iron framework is covered by tarpaulin as the roof. On the other sides are covered by cloth that is usually wrote all of the menus in that stall or just the name of the stall. Inside the stall, there are two places. The first place is for customers to enjoy their foods and the second one is place for the sellers to cook the foods. The equipment is such as stove, wok, spatula, gridiron, knife, magic jar, and many others.
Usually penyetan stall will be more crowded towards the night. It is because food stall that rarely open in the night. So people that want something to eat in the night swarm go to the penyetan stall, angkringan, or something like that. Sometimes, you will be entertained by singing beggars that will enter from the first food stall to another food stall.
The penyetan stall that very famous is Warung Penyetan Bu Kris. This place is in Trenggilis Utara Street No.1, Surabaya. The stall begins to serve the customers everyday at 10 am until 8 pm. The thing that makes the meals there taste good is the quality of their sambal. That stall has already opens some branches in other cities like Pandaan, Sidoarjo, Malang, and Jakarta.
Even thought Yogya wasn't the first to have penyetan, but Yogya has so many Warung Penyetan, especially in the boarding house are near a university. Like the one in this video. The shop in this video belongs to Ibu Tinarsih, located in Karang Malang street right outside Faculty of Languange and Art, UNY.
To have a food stall that sells well, you must know well the way to make the food. For example is catfish. You must know how to make the catfish does not have fishy smelling. If the material food is duck, you must comprehend the way to cook the duck and make it tender. Besides that, your food must have the good taste and always keep your stall clean. It can makes the customers are comfortable during enjoying the meals.
Penyetan has already become the favorite meals for some people. It makes penyetan is more close to people and can always defend its existence in Indonesia. The different way to serve the food makes penyetan has specific characteristics. Penyetan is something like culture originates from Indonesia especially Java that must be defended its originality.